Tubby
09-16-2005, 10:43 PM
State wants to increase Alligator Alley toll to $2.50 to pay for police patrols
By Michael Turnbell Transportation Writer
Drivers likely will face higher tolls for a trip across Alligator Alley starting in January to help beef up police presence on the road and pay for increasing maintenance costs.
The Florida Department of Transportation wants to hike tolls on Interstate 75 to $2.50 for drivers paying cash and $2 for SunPass users. All two-axle vehicles now pay $1.50 for a one-way trip.
The increase would pay for 14 new troopers whose sole duty will be patrolling the 78-mile toll road that cuts through the Everglades between Weston and Naples.
Those officers would be in addition to troopers from posts in Broward and Collier counties who already patrol the Alley.
"This is going to allow us to have a 24-hour-a-day presence and give us an opportunity to do more selective enforcement," said Florida Highway Patrol Capt. John Roberts.
A decision on the toll increase will be made after a round of public meetings this month and public hearings to be held later in the fall.
Tolls for cars have not increased since the Alley opened as two-lane State Road 84 in 1969. Tolls were hiked for trucks in 1999, but not for two-axle vehicles.
From 1986 to 1992, the state spent $189 million to transform the Alley to a four-lane, divided highway with an 88-foot median. The road became the final piece of I-75.
The Alley is safer today in most drivers' minds. But troopers say two things haven't changed: The remoteness of the highway and the lure to speed down its stretches of flat straightaway.
A South Florida Sun-Sentinel investigation in 2004 found the Alley's fatality rate was on the rise after declining in the first few years after the road was widened.
"It's an extremely long, straight stretch of road that, historically, we have not had the number of troopers that we've needed to slow people down out there," Roberts said. "Drivers have taken advantage of that."
In addition to more troopers, the state says more revenue is needed to take care of the Alley, including the rest areas and a new cable barrier installed last year in Collier County to keep vehicles out of a canal along the road.
Traffic on the Alley is four-times higher than it was in 1990, with nearly 23,000 vehicles a day passing through the toll plaza in western Broward.
Some toll money will be spent to install lighting and guardrails in the median near the Snake Road exit near the Broward-Collier line, for new wildlife crossings in Collier County, improved parking at a recreational area at milepost 49 and additional SunPass lanes at the two toll plazas.
In 2006, the state will begin the first in a series of projects to repave the Alley.
"The current toll rate does not generate enough revenue to pay for all of these things," said Barbara Kelleher, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation. "The additional toll revenue keeps us from having to dip into transportation trust fund revenues."
Two public hearings will be scheduled later this year. If approved by the state, the increase will go into effect Jan. 8.
By Michael Turnbell Transportation Writer
Drivers likely will face higher tolls for a trip across Alligator Alley starting in January to help beef up police presence on the road and pay for increasing maintenance costs.
The Florida Department of Transportation wants to hike tolls on Interstate 75 to $2.50 for drivers paying cash and $2 for SunPass users. All two-axle vehicles now pay $1.50 for a one-way trip.
The increase would pay for 14 new troopers whose sole duty will be patrolling the 78-mile toll road that cuts through the Everglades between Weston and Naples.
Those officers would be in addition to troopers from posts in Broward and Collier counties who already patrol the Alley.
"This is going to allow us to have a 24-hour-a-day presence and give us an opportunity to do more selective enforcement," said Florida Highway Patrol Capt. John Roberts.
A decision on the toll increase will be made after a round of public meetings this month and public hearings to be held later in the fall.
Tolls for cars have not increased since the Alley opened as two-lane State Road 84 in 1969. Tolls were hiked for trucks in 1999, but not for two-axle vehicles.
From 1986 to 1992, the state spent $189 million to transform the Alley to a four-lane, divided highway with an 88-foot median. The road became the final piece of I-75.
The Alley is safer today in most drivers' minds. But troopers say two things haven't changed: The remoteness of the highway and the lure to speed down its stretches of flat straightaway.
A South Florida Sun-Sentinel investigation in 2004 found the Alley's fatality rate was on the rise after declining in the first few years after the road was widened.
"It's an extremely long, straight stretch of road that, historically, we have not had the number of troopers that we've needed to slow people down out there," Roberts said. "Drivers have taken advantage of that."
In addition to more troopers, the state says more revenue is needed to take care of the Alley, including the rest areas and a new cable barrier installed last year in Collier County to keep vehicles out of a canal along the road.
Traffic on the Alley is four-times higher than it was in 1990, with nearly 23,000 vehicles a day passing through the toll plaza in western Broward.
Some toll money will be spent to install lighting and guardrails in the median near the Snake Road exit near the Broward-Collier line, for new wildlife crossings in Collier County, improved parking at a recreational area at milepost 49 and additional SunPass lanes at the two toll plazas.
In 2006, the state will begin the first in a series of projects to repave the Alley.
"The current toll rate does not generate enough revenue to pay for all of these things," said Barbara Kelleher, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation. "The additional toll revenue keeps us from having to dip into transportation trust fund revenues."
Two public hearings will be scheduled later this year. If approved by the state, the increase will go into effect Jan. 8.